


Moving On

by orphan_account



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-24 01:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16630640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Short one-shot, kinda fluffy, kinda bittersweet, all love





	Moving On

**Author's Note:**

> I threw this together because someone said something about it to me and I was like, “Yuh that’s cute,” so here we are. It’s kinda rushed but like whatever. ALSO, I’m gonna continue the other stories but school is beating me to a pulp right now with Thanksgiving break coming up. But keep an eye out, I’m probably gonna be focusing a lot of my writing into In The Moment.
> 
> Side note: cyb there was a time when Alex played for Portland lol
> 
> Another side note: I did not proof read this so I apologize in advance

It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. She had made up her mind way back when the expansion was announced that when the time came for her to retire from club soccer, she’d want her final game to be at Providence Park. It wasn’t that Orlando wasn’t good enough for her, it was just that in the three years she had lived in Portland, the city had given her so much.

She felt like her life had really started in that city. The development of her game improved tenfold by playing for the Thorns. The entirety of Portland was behind Alex and if she had fallen, they were going to catch her. She felt safe, she felt loved. And not only did she feel loved, but Portland was where she fell in love. Portland took up a lot of space in Alex’s heart. Almost as much Tobin did.

The city had once been her home and now, years later, her home was Tobin. It felt fitting to close out her club career at PDX with her best friend right across from her. And now here she was, lined up in the tunnel, preparing for the end.

Too in the zone, the chants of her name coming from the Riveters sounded muffled in her mind. From the front of the line she could see the tifos, the flags, and the number thirteen jerseys strewn around the sold out stadium. Her eyes welled up with bittersweet tears at the thought of saying goodbye to something that had been such a big part of her, so she closed them, in an attempt to keep the waterworks from falling.

She felt a finger wrap around her pinky and her head snapped up to look to her left. She was met with the image of her girlfriend’s side profile, still looking forward, wearing the captain’s armband. Tobin laced her fingers with Alex’s and finally looked over to face her. She gave her a soft smiled and swung their hands back and forth between them.

“You ready, Al?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Alex steadied their arms and squeezed the older girl’s hand.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

As if on cue, the refs began walking towards the middle of the field and the respective starting elevens for each team followed suit. The couple held on to each other for as long as they could until the distance became too much between them and they had to go their separate ways.

Without getting too comfortable in line, Alex got ready for her retirement ceremony. She stepped forward and stood next to her framed purple jersey. A few words were spoken about the endless list of things she’s done for the sport in her long, illustrious career. Words of talent and thanks and love were shared with everyone watching. Alex’s heart rate was increasing by the second with so many emotions running through her at once.

They finally called up her family to take one final picture. Jeri, Jen and her family, and her parents who had all flown out from California for the game walked from the sidelines to the center of the field to join the forward.

Tobin watched from afar, standing in her own line, tearing up with a smile on her face at the sight in front of her. AD who was standing next to her, rubbed the girl’s back in comfort.

As the family was getting set to take the picture, Pam turned around and flagged down her daughter’s girlfriend.

“Tobin! Honey, come here!”

With hesitation, she walked slowly towards the family. When she got close enough, Alex reached out and pulled her in close to her. They smiled for a quick picture and after an exchange of hugs, Alex’s family departed. Tobin then placed a light kiss on her best friend’s forehead before walking back to her teammates.

The national anthem rung throughout Providence Park while Alex sang along. For club and for country was soon to become just country.

Chosen to lead their teams, Tobin and Alex met in the middle to shake hands, which was followed by a quick hug. They acknowledged the refs, shook hands with the opposing team, and prepared for the next 90 minutes of their lives.

As each team was getting into position, the north end of the stadium roared with excitement. Noticing all the raucous, the players looked up. The Riveters displayed an impressive tifo that read ‘Take PRIDE in the THORNS.’

Alex laughed to herself in an attempt to keep from crying. The tears could wait. Now it was game time.

_____

The final whistle blew and she leaned over, hands on her knees. Playing with talent and hard work was one thing, but playing with heart was another and she had left all of hers on the field.

The score was 3-2 in favor of Portland. Despite the loss, Alex had never worked harder in her life, scoring both goals and playing a full 90. 

She figured that now would be as good as a time as ever to let herself really cry, so she did. She stood up with her face buried in her hands, tears of love, exhaustion, and thankfulness flowing from her eyes.

It wasn’t long until she felt the arms of her friends around her- those from Orlando and from Portland. They took turns holding her, comforting her, congratulating her. She stood in the middle of the field for what seemed like hours, taking in her surroundings. 

She watched from afar as Tobin and Lindsey were given their respective roses for scoring their goals. Tobin spun around and caught Alex’s eye. The older girl threw her a wink and Alex reminded herself to tell Tobin just how much she loved her later tonight.

_____

“I believe this is yours?” Mark had walked over to the north end of the stadium to where the girls were.

“Well I mean, it won’t be mine for much longer but thanks.” Tobin took what he had handed to her and hugged her coach before signaling a thumbs up to the fans above her and her teammates around her as they began to get ready.

_____

The members of the Pride were facing the south end of the stadium where they watched a tribute video for the beloved forward. The air was filled with laughter, cheers, and cries of endearment. Ashlyn and Sydney held Alex close between them, refusing to let go of their emotional friend.

Somewhere amongst the players and staff of the Pride was Tobin, hiding behind the pool of bodies who were cheering as the video ended.

“Have you talked to Tobin yet?” Ashlyn asked from beside her.

“No, not yet. I’m gonna go look for her now, actually.”

Ashlyn and Syd smiled and let her go. Alex pushed through the dispersing crowd of teammates with her head down, fixing her ponytail. She looked up when she was done but stopped dead in her tracks.

In front of her was a tifo on the other side of Province Park. It depicted the image of the back of an old Thorns jersey with the number thirteen on it but instead of a last name at the top it read ‘Marry Me?”

The forward frantically looked around. No longer were her teammates behind her. Instead, she was met with her girlfriend down on one knee as she turned around completely. She covered her mouth to muffle her sobs, unable to get words out.

“Hi,” Tobin beamed. “I know this probably wasn’t how you imagined this happening, you know, all sweaty and gross and everything. Oh, and you played really well tonight by the way. I’m so proud of you. But anyways, I just- I don’t think you understand how much I love you. You know I’m not good at speeches but my point is, I want- I need to spend the rest of my life with you so would you plea-,”

Alex stopped her and pulled the older girl up from the ground so that they were face to face. She placed both hands on Tobin’s cheeks and cut her off with a kiss. The stadium shook with cheers as they assumed she had said yes.

Alex pulled back just enough so that their foreheads were still touching, looking into glossy eyes.

“Yes. Yes. Yes.” She said in between kisses.

Tobin slid the ring around her now fiancée’s finger and the two admired to look of the new piece of jewelry on Alex’s hands before turning to the sidelines only to find both sets of teammates running towards them. Before they knew it, they were engulfed into a group hug full of jumping and cheering.

If Alex was emotional about her career ending, she wasn’t upset about now. What better way to start a new part of her life as one was coming to a close? There was something comforting about knowing that while she endeavored on her journey without soccer, Tobin was going to be with her through it all. And she’d be with her for whatever came after that, and so on and so forth. Tobin was going to be there for the rest of her life and that’s all she needed.


End file.
